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S1802 Italian Contemporary History in Films

Professors

Luca Pes (Venice International University)

Schedule

Monday

From 15:15

to 16:45

Wednesday

From 15:15

to 16:45

Course Description

The course is an introduction to modern Italian politics, society and culture in a historical and comparative perspective. Lectures will revolve around six major Italian movies, which will be the object of collective discussion: Il Gattopardo by Luchino Visconti, Amarcord by Federico Fellini, La Notte di San Lorenzo by Giuseppe and Paolo Taviani, Don Camillo by Julien Duvivier, Mimì metallurgico ferito nell’onore by Lina Wertmueller and Il Caimano by Nanni Moretti. The idea is that films can be useful as a starting point for historical discussion, as documents of the time in which they were made, as historiographical texts on the period in which they are set and as historical agents, as they are constantly reinterpreted and can influence culture in different successive moments. They can also be useful because they talk about individuals, daily life, family and personal relations; they involve a “mise-en-scène” which bring history much closer to life, and oblige us to discuss events and phenomena also at a micro level, bringing in themes related to gender, family, and collective psychology.

The period covered by the course runs from 1796 to 2016, i.e. from the process of Nation-Building to the Present. Similarly to Germany and unlike Spain, Italy is a new nation-state. The beginning of the process of unification can be traced back to the Napoleonic Age, which saw the diffusion of ideals of Liberalism, Democracy and Nationalism. The foundation of the new Kingdom (1861) was followed by attempts to forge a common identity in the context of a liberal but conservative State, which formed the basis of the first industrialization. After the Great War, the peninsula saw the rise of the first Fascist Regime in Europe, as a result of an alliance between Mussolini, the Monarchy and the Catholic Church. Military defeat and the 1943-45 Civil War, paved the way for a Republic, characterized by a blocked political system with the Catholic Party in power and the largest Communist Party in the West on the opposition. In 1992-94 the judicial investigation and arrests of corrupt politicians contributed to a revolution in the party system, which laid the foundations of the present political landscape. The course will also deal with issues like Church-State relations and the influence of Catholicism, origins and development of the Mafia, the North-South divide, social transformations, emigration and immigration, the 1968 movements, the economic miracle and development of the 'Made in Italy' concept, and controversies involving Berlusconi. The general focus will be on the relationship between politics and society.

A set of readings downloadable from the course e-learning platform provides further insight, including articles by the leading scholars published in English, such as John Davis, Adrian Lyttelton, Paul Corner, Gianfranco Pasquino, Percy Allum and Perry Anderson.

Students are expected to attend classes, watch all the movies and actively participate to group discussions; form a team with other mates and introduce one of the movies to the rest of the class; submit a final research paper at the end of the semester. It is particularly important students are present to the discussions of films, as absences to discussions will particularly affect final evaluation.

Each one of the units will consist in (a) an introductory lecture on the historical context of the time in which the movie is set; (b) an introductory lecture on the director and the time in which the movie was produced (c) introductory presentations by students; (d) a general discussion.

Movies will be screened out of class.

Detailed information about the course, guidelines and useful materials will be available during the semester in the e-learning platform, which students will be asked to consult regularly, writing comments, if asked.

Evaluation

10% attendance

20% contribution to discussion of movies

30% oral presentations

40% final research paper

Reading

CINEMA AND HISTORY (methodology)

Pierre Sorlin, The film in history: restaging the past, Noble Books, Totowa 1980

ITALIAN CINEMA (quick reference for all movies, like a dictionary)

Peter E. Bondanella, A History of Italian Cinema, Continuum, New York 2009

ITALIAN CINEMA (themes, with reference to some of the movies)

Giacomo Lichtner, Fascism in Italian cinema since 1945: the politics and aesthetics of memory, Victoria University of Wellington, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke 2013